


The Boyfriend Challenge

by SlantedKnitting



Series: Archivist [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 09:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18050060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlantedKnitting/pseuds/SlantedKnitting
Summary: On their 10-year anniversary, Merlin and Arthur decide to give the fans a treat.And Arthur has a secret treat for Merlin, too.Part of the "This Silly Ol' Dance Is Perfect for Two" verse.





	The Boyfriend Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I couldn't stay away from these boys :')

Arthur toyed with the tripod, trying to get the camera as level as possible.

"I don't think anyone will care if it's one centimetre off," Merlin said, wrapping his arms around Arthur from behind. "Stop fussing."

Arthur twisted his lips but left the tripod alone. He turned in Merlin's embrace and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"Not fussing. Just trying to make sure you won't look hideously off centre."

"How kind."

Arthur smirked and pulled away. "Cat shut away?"

"Cat shut away," Merlin confirmed. He flopped down on the sofa and looked between the camera and the laptop set up next to it. "I look pretty on centre."

"Yeah?" Arthur poked at the camera again, pushing it back to get a wider shot.

"Yeah. Ready?"

Arthur checked the time and saw that they only had about 90 seconds before his livestream was supposed to start.

"I guess."

"Hey," Merlin said quietly. "Come here."

Arthur took a deep breath and sat down next to Merlin.

"I love you," Merlin said, reaching for Arthur's hand. "Just think about the weekend we've got planned. Dinner at your favourite restaurant," he started listing. Arthur murmured in agreement. "Zoo with the godchildren. That stupid new Hugh Jackman film. And then Italy in a few days."

Arthur took another deep breath, trying to focus on Merlin's words and not what he was about to do.

"Good?" Merlin asked.

Arthur nodded and went in for a quick kiss. "Good. You?"

"All set."

Arthur checked the shot again before starting up the livestream. He waited a few seconds to be sure it was working, and then he settled back on the couch next to Merlin and did his best not to look nervous.

"Hello!" he said, perhaps overenthusiastically. "Thank you everyone for joining. I'm Arthur, this is my partner Merlin, and we are, um… going to do the so-called 'boyfriend challenge' for you today. This was something that a fan requested on Twitter, and it caught on until basically every mention I got was about this, so we're doing it. We picked today because it's our 10-year anniversary, and this seemed like a good a way as any to spend time together."

He looked over at Merlin, who nodded encouragingly.

"So. The way this works is that we have some questions." Arthur held up his mobile to show off the list. "I actually haven't looked at them, a friend sent me this link and I figured I'd keep it a surprise to make things as awkward as possible."

Merlin chuckled and added, "The best anniversary gift -- public awkwardness. Recorded for posterity."

Arthur grinned and looked down at the first question. "Ready?"

"Ready," Merlin confirmed.

"Okay. Question number one. How did we meet?"

"Am I answering this one, or…"

Arthur licked his lips. "I'll take a stab. I was, um… I had just been dumped, and I was having a rough night out at a pub nearby the building we both lived in. And Merlin did me the favour of taking me home before I made a scene."

"There's a bit more to it," Merlin protested. "We knew of each other before then. We were neighbours," he explained to the camera. "We lived across the hall from each other. We hadn't really talked --"

"Because Merlin thought I was a prat," Arthur explained.

"Because I thought Arthur was a prat," Merlin agreed. "I was wrong, but there you go. So, we sort of knew each other just from, like, the hall and the lifts and whatnot. But that night was the first time we properly interacted, yes."

"Yes. So, I was drunk and Merlin made sure I got home. The next morning I went over to his to thank him and apologise for the trouble, and I ended up staying to play games with his friends."

"My friends invited him," Merlin clarified. "I was against the idea, but I didn't want to be rude."

"You were definitely rude," Arthur reminded him. "You just didn't kick me out."

Merlin shrugged. "I did my best to make sure you felt unwelcome."

Arthur chuckled. "You mostly succeeded. So, yeah. I think that was about it until some time later when the tables turned and _you_ were the drunk one and I helped make sure you got home."

"Right. I tried to get into your flat because apparently I forgot which side of the hall I lived on."

"And you were covered in glitter. And you had me read you a bedtime story."

Merlin clapped a hand over his mouth and blushed prettily. "I forgot about that," he said quietly.

Arthur grinned and gave Merlin's knee a squeeze. Their laps were out of shot, but he figured the viewers would still be able to interpret his arm movement.

"I will never forget that," he said surely. "And the next morning, you came over to mine to thank me and apologise for the trouble, and you ended up staying to play games with _my_ friends. Because, you know, symmetry."

"Synergy."

Arthur snorted. "Yes. That. So, um… yeah. That's how we met. And then some. That morning was actually when Lance -- Lance du Lac -- started suspecting I might… have feelings for you."

Merlin looked over. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Apparently I was looking at you in some incredibly obvious way."

"Well, that I don't doubt. But… I didn't know that."

Arthur shrugged. "Yeah. That's what he told me at least."

"Interesting. What's the next question?"

Arthur looked down at his mobile. "How did we get together?"

"We were in Wales," Merlin answered. "At my hotel room."

"Well, we can give a _bit_ more detail than that," Arthur teased. "But, yes, we were in Wales. I was there for a match, and Merlin was there for school. He was working on his doctorate at the time. And I'd got him a ticket for the game, and he went with Gwaine -- Gwaine Verde -- with Gwaine's sister."

"Right. That was the first ever football match I'd been to."

"You never even went to one of Elyan's?" Arthur asked, glancing over.

"'Course not."

"Right," Arthur said, smiling. "Why would you have? Merlin hated football."

"I didn't _hate_ it," Merlin protested. "I just didn't care for it at the time. I didn't really know much about it. But I went to your match and enjoyed myself."

"Yes," Arthur said, going back to the story. "So, after the match Merlin came and met most of my team. And that apparently was when Lance decided that Merlin also had feelings for me."

"Did I look at you in some obvious way?"

"Apparently."

"My bad."

Arthur chuckled. "So, yeah. You met the team, and we went back to our separate hotels. I went down to the pub in mine and started feeling sad about my life, and then Lance showed up and, um… convinced me to go talk to you about it."

"So -- I mean, I've heard this story, but did he really just plop down and say, like, 'Arthur, you clearly fancy Merlin, go get him'?"

"More or less," Arthur said, smiling. "He sat down and started telling me that I should go after what would make me happy or something like that. I sort of… didn't fully understand what he was going on about at first, but then he was like, 'I know you like Merlin,' and I kind of died a little on the inside."

"Because you weren't out yet," Merlin supplied. "I think I was -- was I the only other person who knew at that point that you were gay?"

"Yeah. Right, yeah, you already knew I was gay by then. But no one else yet, except Lance apparently. You were the first person who ever knew."

"Well, there was that guy --"

"Right, there was a guy from when I was younger who maybe knew. I think he himself is bisexual, so maybe he thought I was, too. But we never talked about it. You were the first person. And then Lance."

"Right. And we'd sort of -- we'd had a near miss at some point. Like, we'd already almost kissed once."

"Yeah, one night we were… you know, the more stories we tell, the more it sounds like we just drunk every time we talked to each other."

"We might have been drunk or hungover for the first while," Merlin admitted. "I think that made it easier on us. Social lubrication and whatnot."

"I guess that's true. So, yeah, we were with Gwen -- Lance's now wife -- and we nearly kissed. Was that… why were we with Gwen?"

"She probably doesn't want me saying this, but she'd been out with Gwaine," Merlin said, laughing a little. "She went out to dinner with him, I think just the once, before she'd ever met Lance. And she came back afterwards and, we all watched _Grey's Anatomy_ and then, yeah, almost kissed. But we didn't."

"Right. So that happened, and we both just kind of ignored it. Then we were in Wales, and Lance convinced me to go talk to you."

"So he came to my hotel room," Merlin said, addressing the camera. "To 'thank me for going to his game' and to 'make sure I'd had a good time'. And when I tried to assure him that I had had a good time, he kissed me."

Arthur nodded, feeling himself going red even though he'd assumed they were going to have to talk about their first kiss.

"But we didn't, like, 'get together' that first night," Merlin explained. "That was just our first kiss. It took a few weeks for us to decide we wanted to be together."

"We knew we wanted to be together," Arthur said. "It took a few weeks to say it out loud to each other."

"Right." Merlin gave him a soft smile and Arthur returned it. "Next question?"

"Where was our first date?" Arthur read off his mobile.

Merlin frowned. "That's a hard one. We couldn't really go out on real dates, for obvious reasons. We went to this one pub a lot, I guess it was probably there."

"I think it was probably our first costume ball."

"Oh, yeah. I think you're right. There was this local gay club I used to go a lot, and they held costume balls every month, and I convinced Arthur to start coming to them with me."

"Yeah, Merlin would paint my whole face as a disguise --"

"As a costume," Merlin corrected.

"It was a disguise," Arthur said. "I was in disguise. But, yeah, I guess that was probably our first real date outside of that pub." He looked back down at his mobile. "Who… who said 'I love you' first?"

"You did," Merlin said, looking over with a grin. "On my birthday."

"Yeah. We were in France, and…" Arthur trailed off. He'd said it in a fancy hotel room in Paris, after a long night of birthday sex.

"And you said it," Merlin finished for him.

"Yep. Alright." He looked for the next question. "What do you love most about me?"

"You first."

Arthur smirked. "All right. I mean, this is an absurd question because we've been together for a decade, so obviously there's an incredible amount that I love about you."

"Aww," Merlin said, laughing.

"Shut it," Arthur said, biting down a smile.

"What do you love _most_ , though?"

"There's lot of things," Arthur said honestly. "Definitely up there is the fact that you love glitter more than any other human I've ever met, including drag queens."

"I don't love it _that_ much," Merlin protested.

"No, you do. I've resigned myself to never being glitter-free. I'm constantly finding it on myself even though I never do anything with it. You're the only one who does."

"I wash it off!"

"It's _glitter_ ," Arthur exclaimed. "It can't be washed away. I've found it on the cat!"

Merlin folded forward in laughter, and Arthur grinned.

"I'm saying I like it, though," he reminded Merlin. "It's one of my favourite things about you. It has to be, otherwise I'd go mad."

"How sweet," Merlin said, sitting back up.

"All right, your turn, then. What do you love most about me?"

Merlin gave Arthur a long look, and Arthur felt himself blushing again.

"I love your conviction," Merlin finally said. "I've never seen you do anything halfway. Except learn French, maybe, but you got there eventually, so I don't even know if that can count."

"Oui oui," Arthur said. "Je parle _muy bien_ français."

Merlin snorted. "And I love that you don't take yourself too seriously, even though you have a lot of reasons to do so."

Arthur grinned and pulled up the next question. "What could I spend hours doing?"

"Taking photos," Merlin answered immediately. "I mean, that's an obvious one. That and play with the cat, I guess."

"For you, it's definitely reading."

"We sound very boring," Merlin pointed out.

"We can be pretty boring," Arthur agreed. "We're very normal," he said directly to the camera.

"I'm normal," Merlin said. "You're a prat."

Arthur scoffed. "Thanks, Merlin. Love you, too."

Merlin grinned and leaned in for a brief kiss. Arthur gulped and hurried to scroll to the next question before he could get too caught up in the fact that they'd just kissed in front of a live audience of God knows how many people.

"What was… Jesus. What was the first major secret you told each other?"

Merlin knocked his knee against Arthur's to get his attention. Arthur looked up and shrugged, thinking he might as well.

"I can go first," Merlin said.

"Yours is inappropriate," Arthur said, thinking there were probably young fans watching who didn't need to hear about Merlin's syphilis.

"No, it's not."

" _Yes_ , it is," Arthur said emphatically.

"I know what you're thinking of, but that wasn't the first secret I told you."

Arthur frowned. "What --"

"I didn't have any friends until uni," Merlin said, looking back at the camera. "I was a really glittery nerd growing up, and I didn't find anyone who appreciated that until I left my hometown."

"Right," Arthur said, remembering Merlin telling him that before they'd even got together. "I forgot about that one."

"Well, I wasn't going to blurt out the other one," Merlin teased. "Do you want to go or should we skip to the next question?"

"I'll go," Arthur said, his eyes on his mobile. "This probably deserves its own video since it's something I'd like to talk about more in depth at some point, but, um… the year before I met Merlin, I fancied this physio who worked for Camelot." He forced himself to look back up at the camera. "It was really stressful because I couldn't do anything about it, but he was always there. We worked together, so I couldn't escape him, and there was a lot of touching involved." He attempted a smile but knew it fell short. "I was really stressed out and not handling that well, and I developed an eating disorder."

Merlin reached out to hold Arthur's hand, and Arthur squeezed it tightly.

"Luckily it's something I've mostly been able to recover from. I had help from therapists and nutritionists and that sort of thing. Having friends who finally knew I was gay helped a lot, as well. Merlin helped. It's still something I struggle with sometimes. Like, right now, I'm finding this to be quite nerve-wracking, and there's a part of me that wants to cancel our dinner reservations tonight so I can avoid eating for a while. But, it's our anniversary, and not eating wouldn't help anyone, so I'm not actually going to cancel anything. It's just… yeah. It's still something I live with. And, yeah, that was one of the first big secrets I told Merlin."

"Tell them about the other one," Merlin suggested, meaning Arthur's long history of anonymous donations to gay charities.

"They don't need to hear about that," he said quietly. He still gave away all of his modelling income, but he didn't want to be known for that. He didn't do it for prestige, he did it because he wanted to and because he could. "Next question. What have you learned from being in a relationship with me?"

"Patience," Merlin answered easily. "Arthur was basically entirely closeted when we first got together, and it was really difficult for me to slow down and figure out how to appropriately handle that. I made a lot of mistakes trying to rush things along before he was ready."

"And I learned… I don't know if 'courage' is the right word. Maybe, like, confidence? I was a mess when we first met, and a mess before we got together, and a mess after we got together. But being around you helped me realise what I wanted and how important it was to allow myself to be, well, myself. I don't think there's anyone else out there who could have given me such freedom."

Merlin gave Arthur a small smile and then moved in for another kiss. Arthur held him there for a moment.

"I have something for you," he whispered.

"What does that mean?"

Arthur leaned back and cleared his throat. "I have something for Merlin," he said to the camera. "Or, I don't know, that's a weird way of putting it, but I have… I have something else planned for the end of the video."

"Something else?"

"Besides questions."

"What is it?" Merlin asked, looking nervous.

"Today is our 10-year anniversary," Arthur said, turning back to Merlin. "Today is 10 years since we decided to be together. I don't know if you remember that morning. We'd had an argument about going out to that gay club, and you'd gone without me. Then you came back and brought over your pet lizard. You told me about… about your tattoo, and you told me that you liked my Roman nose."

Merlin laughed and blushed.

"And in the morning we talked through the argument we'd had, and you said you'd never had a famous or closeted boyfriend before. The fame part hasn't changed, but I'm out now, out in a way I never, ever thought possible before I met you. You've changed my life in the most beautiful ways, Merlin."

Arthur felt himself starting to tear up, and he could see realisation dawning on Merlin's face.

"I can't believe how lucky I am to get to fall asleep next to you every night, and wake up next to you every morning. You make my life so much better than it ever was before." Arthur took a deep breath and said, his voice breaking a little, "You make _me_ better than I ever was before."

"Arthur," Merlin whispered.

"Shush." Arthur reached under the sofa cushion and pulled out a small box. He opened it and pulled out a simple silver ring. "Merlin," he said, getting to one knee in front of the couch. "I love you, and I want to spend a hundred more decades with you. Will you marry me?"

Merlin, who was red in the face and had tears in his eyes, nodded profusely and held out a shaking hand. Arthur slipped the ring onto his finger and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand, and then to his palm.

"Yes," Merlin managed, his voice wrecked. "Yes, yes--"

Arthur cut him off with a kiss. Merlin held him close, pulling him back onto the sofa, and Arthur didn't care who was watching. He was going to marry the man of his dreams, the love of his life, the best person he'd ever met or would ever meet, and he wanted the whole world to know and to celebrate.

"I love you," Arthur whispered when Merlin let him pull back.

"I love you, too. Bastard," Merlin said, laughing and wiping at his eyes. "I can't believe you just did that in front of…" He gestured at the camera set-up.

"I thought you liked a grand gesture," Arthur teased.

"Oh, I do." Merlin sniffed and looked down at his hand. "It's lovely," he said, twisting the ring around his finger. "Can we get you one as well?"

Arthur wiped at his own eyes. "You want to?"

"Yeah. You're engaged to me, too."

They looked at each other, the word 'engaged' settling between them, and then Merlin moved in for another kiss.

"Anything else you had planned?" he asked, leaning back and glancing at the camera.

"No," Arthur said. He cleared his throat and tried to compose himself. "Thanks for watching, everyone," he said, addressing the audience he couldn't see. "I have to go get ready to take my fiancé out for dinner."

"Thanks," Merlin said weakly, waving at the camera.

Arthur blew a kiss and then ended their livestream.

"I can't believe you just did that," Merlin said. "How long were you planning that?"

"About a month," Arthur admitted. "Do you really like the ring?"

"Of course. Come here," Merlin reached out and dragged Arthur in for a kiss, a long and proper one now that the camera was off. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Is it about syphilis?"

Merlin snorted. " _No_. It's… I was planning to propose when we were in Italy."

"Really?" Arthur asked, grinning.

"Yeah. You beat me to it. I have… if you want, I did get a ring. It's not --"

"Of course I want," Arthur said, sitting back. "Go get it. I'll put it on right now."

Merlin grinned and gave Arthur a kiss before disappearing into their bedroom. He came out a moment later and knelt down in front of the sofa, his eyes bright and still a little wet.

"Arthur," he said softly. "You're the best man I've ever known. You are kind and you are generous, and I count my blessings every day that you direct your kindness and generosity toward me. You've made me happier than I ever thought I could be, even when I'm mad or scared or exhausted. Underneath it all, I'm always happy. I can't imagine ever not being happy when I'm with you."

Arthur could feel himself breaking down again, and he reached out to cup Merlin's face and lean down for a kiss.

"Arthur," Merlin said again, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," Arthur said quickly. "Oui."

Merlin grinned and slipped a ring, an understated silver one similar to his own, onto Arthur's finger.

"Okay, okay," Arthur said, pulling Merlin up and into his lap. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands and gave Merlin a long, sweet kiss. "You have no idea how happy you make me."

"I do. You make me just as happy."

"Not possible."

Merlin grinned again and laced his hands with Arthur's, looking down at their rings.

"We're going to get married," he said quietly.

"Yes," Arthur said, his heart bursting a little at the thought. "You're going to be stuck with me forever."

"Damn, hadn't thought about it that way," Merlin teased.

Arthur grinned and gave Merlin a quick peck before guiding him off of his lap. "Do you think your mum's phoned yet?"

Merlin smirked and pulled his mobile out of his pocket. He'd had it on silent during their livestream, and Arthur could see that he had a missed call.

"It's Gwen, actually. How about you phone her and Lance while I phone my mum."

"Deal." Arthur leaned in for one last kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Go call your friends, we have plenty of time to be sappy tonight."

"Sappy and sexy," Arthur corrected. "You're _mine_ after dinner. Maybe before, too, if we have enough time."

Merlin chuckled and allowed one more kiss. "Deal."


End file.
